Sunday, February 15, 2015

German govt under pressure to legalize fracking, critics call on people to protest

Germany has proposed a draft law to allow commercial shale gas
fracking, overturning a moratorium that has been in place for the last
two years.

The proposal has drawn fire from environmentalists who have urged
people to protest before the exploration begins.

The government has been under pressure from the energy industry
lobby to allow fracking (drilling for gas using water, sand and
chemicals under high pressure through drill holes to prop open
shale rock) citing rising energy costs in Germany and cheaper gas
in the US, due to fracking's popularity in North America.

Commercial fracking for shale gas and coal bed methane would be
banned at levels below 3,000 meters, but allowed for exploration
at shallower levels, subject to the assessment of the expert
panel, according to the Guardian. The draft law would reportedly
affect only hydraulic fracturing for shale oil and tight gas in
water protection and spring healing zones.
“It is important to have a legal framework for hydraulic
fracturing as until now there has been no legislation on the
subject,” the president of Germany’s federal environment
agency (UBA), Maria Krautzberger, told the Guardian.
“We have had a voluntary agreement with the big companies
that there would be no fracking but if a company like Exxon
wanted, they might do it anyway as there is no way to forbid
it,” she said, adding that this is “a progressive step
forward.”

Anti-fracking groups and environmentalists claim that the panel
is not going to be independent, however, with a number of the
government experts belonging to institutions that signed the
Hanover Declaration promoting exploration of shale gas.
"You don’t need a panel to tell you that shale gas is
dangerous. We can see the problems with water pollution,
earthquakes and methane emissions. We need people to protest
about it before the exploration begins,” José Bové, the
French Green MEP, said.

Germany is estimated to have up to 2.3 trillion cubic meters of
shale gas reserves. Under the current fracking ban, there has
been a decline in domestic production. If fracking is allowed,
domestic natural gas production could go up, with fuel and
electricity prices going down in Germany, which has some of the
highest electricity prices in the EU.

A vote on the proposed draft in the Bundestag will take place in
May. If passed into law, fracking could resume in Germany in the
near future.

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